Was Unite The Right one of the biggest backfires ever?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I mean I think it's safe to say those protesters sure as hell didn't accomplish...whatever they intended to do. Meanwhile the statue still goes away, more statues and memorials go down as a result, and their President ends up an outcast with no political capital. None of that would've occurred if they hadn't held the rally.

[Don Vito Corleone]

Absolutely

[Lachi]

Yes.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

President Trump is about to be more popular than ever because the national tone has just shifted massively to issues the Republicans can win on. What reality are you living in?

[Dr. Arch]

President Trump is about to be more popular than ever because the national tone has just shifted massively to issues the Republicans can win on. What reality are you living in?

What issues are those, exactly?

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

President Trump is about to be more popular than ever because the national tone has just shifted massively to issues the Republicans can win on. What reality are you living in?

What issues are those, exactly?

#HeritageNotHate

[Catholics vs. Convicts]

President Trump is about to be more popular than ever because the national tone has just shifted massively to issues the Republicans can win on. What reality are you living in?

What issues are those, exactly?

#HeritageNotHate

Uhhh...it doesn't seem like Heritage is winning...

[pbrower2a]

They united the vast majority of Americans... against them.

[Santander]

I don't think it was a failure. I think the media attention and seeing the size of the rally will cause more young men to become "radicalized" and serve as an invitation for WNs to come out into the open.

[Dr. Arch]

President Trump is about to be more popular than ever because the national tone has just shifted massively to issues the Republicans can win on. What reality are you living in?

What issues are those, exactly?

#HeritageNotHate

Heritage... "White Heritage"? The non-existent heritage based solely on race and not on any origins, practices, or customs as practiced by the cultures of their ancestors? That "heritage"?

It's blissfully sad how these groups have lost sight of what culture and heritage even mean, to the point that they've lost their own ancestral identities and fail to recognize it. It's almost a form of self-inflicted xenophobia.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

President Trump is about to be more popular than ever because the national tone has just shifted massively to issues the Republicans can win on. What reality are you living in?

What issues are those, exactly?

#HeritageNotHate

Heritage... "White Heritage"? The non-existent heritage based solely on race and not on any origins, practices, or customs as practiced by the cultures of their ancestors? That "heritage"?

It's blissfully sad how these groups have lost sight of what culture and heritage even mean, to the point that they've lost their own ancestral identities and fail to recognize it. It's almost a form of self-inflicted xenophobia.

The united heritage of Dixie, which is literally entirely based on origins and has the single most unique culture in the western hemisphere, with a singular worldview wrapped entirely around tradition.

[Dr. Arch]

President Trump is about to be more popular than ever because the national tone has just shifted massively to issues the Republicans can win on. What reality are you living in?

What issues are those, exactly?

#HeritageNotHate

Heritage... "White Heritage"? The non-existent heritage based solely on race and not on any origins, practices, or customs as practiced by the cultures of their ancestors? That "heritage"?

It's blissfully sad how these groups have lost sight of what culture and heritage even mean, to the point that they've lost their own ancestral identities and fail to recognize it. It's almost a form of self-inflicted xenophobia.

The united heritage of Dixie, which is literally entirely based on origins and has the single most unique culture in the western hemisphere, with a singular worldview wrapped entirely around tradition.

I fail to see how that addresses the notion that their families came from someplace else and lived under entirely different customs, which eventually came together in different ways. The notion of a cultural union based on race under an obscure umbrella term is destructive. I wonder how many of these people actually recognize where their families are from. All that they have is race and the contrast of their ill-conceived notion of race against everything else that falls outside of the boundaries of their definitions.

[Beet]

I don't think it was a failure. I think the media attention and seeing the size of the rally will cause more young men to become "radicalized" and serve as an invitation for WNs to come out into the open.

Exactly. This is why I oppose taking down Confederate symbols. It just kicks the hornet's nest and doesn't help a single person. It just makes people fear they're losing their "heritage" and turn to WN, which actually can hurt people, unlike these statues.

[pbrower2a]

"Heritage not hate" is an effort to sanitize the Confederacy, reducing it to military heroism. If one wants to honor a Confederate ancestor or near-ancestor, then that is fine. This in theory is on effort to endorse slavery, racism, or fascist causes such as the Klan. People flying a Confederate flag among banners of Nazi Germany soil whatever connections those admirers of the Confederacy have to any Confederate heritage.

Slavery and racism are disgraces. Fascism is unmitigated evil.

The united heritage of Dixie, which is literally entirely based on origins and has the single most unique culture in the western hemisphere, with a singular worldview wrapped entirely around tradition.

The Southern white tradition from before and during the Civil War is one of the most insipid and undistinguished in history. African-Americans were far more creative in making culture out of the scraps that their masters than were the masters themselves. That's not what people talking about the Confederate heritage talk about. They aren't praising the Black South.

Aside from the great genius of Jefferson, the most interesting part of the white southern heritage was the creative activity of Germans and their offspring in Virginia and North Carolina. But remember -- they were Germans. German lands have a great and glorious culture tradition with the exception of a dozen years of shame.

Cultural pride? In music alone I will take one Dvorak, one Grieg, one Sibelius, or one Bartok over all the musical heritage of the White South before Civil War. There was much cultural creativity in the South after the Civil War -- but that was after the demise of the infamous "Peculiar institution".

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Plz pbrower, this begins and ends with Skynyrd.

[ProudModerate2]

I don't think it was a failure. I think the media attention and seeing the size of the rally will cause more young men to become "radicalized" and serve as an invitation for WNs to come out into the open.

I somewhat agree.
The OP asks about "backfire" (failure), but who's failure are we talking about ?
trump's ? The GOP's ?
Or the white nationalist/Nazi/KKK ? If we are talking about this group, then even though they may have lost with "the statue" (which wasn't even the true reason they organized), they feel they won because they got massive "attention," and shockingly even got sympathy/approval from the president, for their overall evil cause.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Plz pbrower, this begins and ends with Skynyrd.

Preach.

[Devout Centrist]

I don't think it was a failure. I think the media attention and seeing the size of the rally will cause more young men to become "radicalized" and serve as an invitation for WNs to come out into the open.

Exactly. This is why I oppose taking down Confederate symbols. It just kicks the hornet's nest and doesn't help a single person. It just makes people fear they're losing their "heritage" and turn to WN, which actually can hurt people, unlike these statues.

You use raid on a hornet's nest, not appeasement.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

For Nazis, polarisation = good. So no.

[Crumpets]

No, because it was just about attention, and they got it, big league. Not only that, but they got as close to a vote of confidence as it is possible to get under the circumstances from the president of the United States.

[Tekken_Guy]

I mean I think it's safe to say those protesters sure as hell didn't accomplish...whatever they intended to do. Meanwhile the statue still goes away, more statues and memorials go down as a result, and their President ends up an outcast with no political capital. None of that would've occurred if they hadn't held the rally.

It wasn't the rally itself that brought them down; it was the car attack.

Meanwhile you cannot forget about the guys who lost their jobs and all their internet hubs being shuttered.

All they did was bring attention to a woman, a 70 year old film, and a new anti Trump logo.

Had it not been for that piece of filth we'd still have Heather, and they'd still have their websites, statues, and jobs. That rally was reputation suicide for every person involved.

[Pericles]

That remains to be seen. I sure hope so, but it could easily be a success for them. They are energized and have gotten the attention of the nation, and shown that-unfortunately it is true-there is support even in 2017 for their kind of ideology. They got the President of the United States to essentially support them and their cause. It is unclear what actual political consequence President Trump will suffer from this, while Republicans have called him out, they have not taken any concrete action in response. It will only backfire for them if the nation comes together to condemn them and oppose them and to inflict pain on the politicians who refuse to stand against them. That is not guaranteed.

[Cory]

I don't think it was a failure. I think the media attention and seeing the size of the rally will cause more young men to become "radicalized" and serve as an invitation for WNs to come out into the open.

This. The rally and it's aftermath was a total win for the White Nationalist movement. It gave them attention and a sense of momentum. They don't actually care about the statues coming down. If anything it helps them spin their narrative.

[mvd10]

It wasn't a victory for the right, but it was for the sick people attending it.

[7,052,770]

President Trump is about to be more popular than ever because the national tone has just shifted massively to issues the Republicans can win on. What reality are you living in?

What issues are those, exactly?

#HeritageNotHate

Um, the path to winning back the White House in 2020 is flipping Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania back. Associating Trump with the Confederacy in the minds of northerners is a good way to do that.